Halloween, Ghosts and Candy
by Suheyla
Summary: Tony convinced the team to come out to California for some Halloween fun but it's raining and their plans are ruined. Natasha suggests watching scary movies instead. The lights go out and they discover they have an uninvited guest.
1. Chapter 1

**AN**: I wrote this just for fun and hope you enjoy it! There's two chapters to it and the second one will be posted Thursday.

Chapter 1

It was a dark and stormy night, wind drove the rain into the sides of Tony Stark's Malibu house from every angle, lightening streaked across the sky followed by a roll of thunder. A water spout could be seen in the distance.

"I thought you said it never rains in California." Steve said as he leveled a look at Tony as the lights flickered.

"It usually never does, honest, and certainly never on Halloween. I can't remember the last time it rained on Halloween…must've been over ten years ago…" Tony shrugged, "Sorry Cap, I don't control the weather around here, although..."

All eyes turned to Thor who sat on the couch with a plate piled high with pizza, "Why are you all looking at me?" He asked, turning his attention away from his food.

"Because you can control the weather, right?" Clint asked, "Can't you make it stop raining? We were going to go to the horror nights."

"I'm sorry, friends, but since I did not make this storm, I cannot make it stop. Not all storms are caused by me, but I am flattered that you believe so." Thor gave an apologetic look, "Why can we not go to this horror night? It is but a bit of rain."

"Because this is California, no one knows how to drive in the rain, and I'm not wrecking my car because some idiot has to slam on their brakes because there's an inch of water in the intersection. Besides, there could be a landslide, if there's not been one already, and PCH would get shut down, then we'd have to spend the night cooped up in my car, you get the picture. And um, _that_" Tony pointed out the window, "isn't a little bit of rain." With a sigh, he reached for a bottle of rum.

"Why are we even here then? We could've stayed in New York…" Clint grumbled.

"We are here because Tony promised to take us to the haunted house-"

"It's not a haunted house, Natasha, it's Horror Nights." Tony corrected her.

Natasha rolled her eyes at him, "Anyways, maybe next year. Let's just watch a scary movie instead."

"Yes, scary movies! Excellent idea, I should have thought of it myself." Tony lit up, "I've got just the one! Did any of you ever see the Paranormal Activity movies?"

"Para what?" Thor asked, "Sounds like something Loki would be interested in…"

At that the lights flickered again.

"No, never had the chance, we're always busy with some mission." Clint said, "Hey, where's your Halloween candy? Who has fruit at a Halloween party. Oh wait, this really isn't a party because we weren't supposed to be cooped up in your house, we were supposed to be out there, having fun as ghosts and zombies jumped out at us with bloody knives. Don't you ever look at the weather forecast?"

Tony shook his head at Clint, "First, I don't have any candy because Pepper wouldn't let me buy any, said I'll get diabetes or something…Second, I do look at the forecast occasionally but most of the time when they say a storm is coming, it never does, so I didn't pay attention this time."

Bruce spoke up next, "As for the movies, no, I've never seen them. As for the candy thing, Pepper's right, you could get diabetes, but you could've bought some candy secretly. What's Halloween without any candy? You don't have to eat tons of it, but at least a little bit…"

"Do I even want to see these movies?" Steve asked dubiously.

"Of course you want to see them!" Tony said and instructed Jarvis to start it.

"I don't know guys, they don't sound too wholesome…" Steve looked around but no one else seemed to mind.

Everyone screamed at the end of the first one, then looked around at each other as Jarvis started the second one. No one wanted to admit it but they were all rather freaked out. Halfway through, the power went out and the Avengers were left sitting in the dark while the storm raged on outside and the surf pounded the rocks below the mansion.

"Great…just great…" Tony muttered, "Jarvis, any hope in getting the power back on?"

A worrying silence came from the AI. "Uh, Jarvis? Any minute now…come back to me. Don't fail me now…" Tony waited but Jarvis wasn't responding, "Damn…something's wrong."

"What could it be?" Steve asked.

"Well, with any luck it won't be a demon like in the movie." Thor said.

"Don't you have flashlights?" Natasha asked, "You know, for instances like this?"

"Yeah, I do…uh…I just don't know where they're at. Jarvis knows. But he's currently out of commission right now." Tony got up and attempted to make his way across the living room but stubbed his toe on the coffee table and cursed loudly.

"Sit down." Clint said, getting up, "Tell me where you think they are. I can see pretty good in the dark."

"Hey, who touched me?" Natasha demanded.

"Oh, was that you? Sorry…or not." Clint said with a grin you could hear in his voice.

"You guys…why are the street lights on?" Steve asked, standing by one of the windows.

"What? Are you trying to tell me that we're the only ones without power?" Tony asked, "That's not how it's supposed to be! My house is supposed to be the only one with power when everyone else doesn't have any!"

"Something is wrong…I can sense it." Thor said quietly.

"Oh yeah? Your spidey sense is tingling?" Tony said with a smirk.

With furrowed brows, Thor shook his head, "I do not know what a spidey sense is, and I do not believe I have one. And I feel nothing tingling…"

"This is how all those horror movies start." Bruce said slowly, keeping his voice low, "Raging storm, power goes out, we're all trapped inside with the killer."

"Killer?" Tony asked.

"Or it turns out that one of us is the killer." Bruce continued.

"It was that unholy movie, you've invited evil into this house." Thor's voice was very serious and everyone got goose bumps.

"Nah, I already invited one monster into the house and there's no room for more." Tony laughed, "Hey, Bruce, how's it going?"

"Very funny, Tony." Bruce said.

"Just find the damned flashlights!" Natasha snapped, "Now I know how Fury feels...it's like a bunch of kids…"

Suddenly everyone was on their feet, bumping into each other while trying to search for the flashlights. A gust of cold air blew in and the front door slammed.

Jumping, Clint turned towards the door, a flashlight in hand, "Who was that?" He demanded. "Did someone just go outside?" Natasha asked.

"Let's do a headcount." Steve suggested, "Clint and Natasha are accounted for-"

"Unless someone's imitating their voices." Tony said with a grin.

"There's Tony, Bruce?" Steve shouted.

"Here." Bruce called from the kitchen, sounding like he had just taken a bite of something. "

Thor?"

"I am right here." Thor said.

"Did I miss anyone?" Steve asked.

"Nope." Tony said.

In the eerie silence that followed Clint shined the flashlight around the room and then they heard it. A child's laughter, it sounded like it came from another room.

"Okay…what the hell was that?" Tony demanded, stepping closer to the group, "And how many flashlights did you find?"

"That sounded like the laughter of a child, Tony." Thor said, "Have you never heard it before?"

"Um, yeah, I know what a kid laughing sounds like. But last time I checked, there were no kids in my house!"

"Yeah, that was really creepy." Bruce said, walking into the living room from the kitchen with one of the sandwiches that were left over from dinner, "But at least that means none of us will go on a killing spree. Tonight anyways, there's always tomorrow…"

Clint handed a flashlight to Natasha, "There were only two. Nice planning, Tony. Aren't you supposed to be prepared for earthquakes and things like that?"

Another door slammed shut somewhere upstairs before Tony had a chance to respond to that.

"Someone is in your house." Thor said.

"Yeah…we kinda guessed that by now…" Clint said.

There was more laughter and the sound of a ball bouncing down the stairs.

"Shit." Tony breathed as Clint, and Natasha shined their flashlights at the bottom of the stairs and a yellow ball bounced into the room. They followed it with the flashlights and it came to rest at the backdoor.

Then there was the sound of footsteps, quiet ones. Everyone turned around only quick enough to see the back of a little girl in a tattered white dress with brown curls dash down the hall.

"What was that?" Thor demanded.

"Looked like a little girl to me, haven't you ever seen one before?" Natasha motioned for them to follow the girl.

Just as they were about to move, Tony screamed.

"What? Did you see something?" Clint asked and then chuckled, "And man, you kind of scream like a girl." "

Something touched me!" Tony shouted, rubbing the back of his neck frantically.

"What was it?" Bruce asked.

"How should I know? It felt like a spider web or hair or something!"

"I apologize, it might have been my hair." Thor told him.

"Keep your hair to yourself, Goldilocks…" Tony muttered, then realized that Thor wasn't standing anywhere near enough to him that his hair would touch him, a shiver went down his spine but he said nothing.

The six mighty heroes stood there, huddled together, "Alright, we should split up, let's find out what's in here." Clint said, "I'll go with Tony and Thor."

"And I'll take Bruce and Steve." Natasha said.

So they split up and began, slowly, to go through the house. Every now and then they heard the girl laughing, and every now and then something would touch someone on the back of the neck or the arm. It was like a tendril of mist. Cold and ethereal.

"I gotta go to the bathroom." Tony said, "You guys wait outside."

"Yeah, because we were going to go in with you." Clint said with sarcasm.

"I bet girls would, because they'd be too scared to go in alone and too scared to wait in the hall."

Tony laughed as he went into the bathroom and as he was washing his hands once he was finished, he saw a reflection of a pale faced child with dark circles under her eyes and a purple-blue hue to her lips, starring at him in the mirror as soon as he saw her, she grinned. Screaming, Tony turned around to find nothing there as he frantically tried to open the door. With his hands still wet, he couldn't open it right away and pounded on it instead, "Open the door, let me out! Now!"

"What happened?" Clint shouted as he opened the door and Tony practically fell out.

"I saw…" He gasped for air, "I saw…her…it…in the mirror."

"Man, this house is freaky. Remind me never to visit again." Clint stepped around Tony and inspected the bathroom, "Nothing here." He announced, standing in the doorway. He then frowned when he saw the way Thor and Tony were looking at something behind him, eyes wide with fright. The skin between his shoulder blades tingled, "Something's behind me, right?"

"Yes." Tony said softly.

"A little girl…" Thor whispered.

Clint slowly turned, flashlight in hand but nothing was there save for a wisp of mist, "Let's go see if the others found anything yet." That was when they heard it. The bloodcurdling, high pitched scream that belonged to a child.

They nearly broke their necks getting down the stairs.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I heard it again, that laughing!" Natasha said, "Over here!" Her group hurried down the hallway and into the kitchen, "She's in here somewhere…"

They shined the flashlights around and then heard the commotion upstairs.

"Tony screams like a girl." Bruce laughed.

"I wonder what's happening up there…Maybe we should go check on them." Steve said.

"They can take care of themselves, let's focus on finding that girl. I heard her in here. There, shh…you hear that? It sounds like...crying…" Natasha motioned for them to follow quietly.

As they made their way around the kitchen island they stopped dead as a high pitched, bloodcurdling scream was heard.

Steve instinctively moved closer to Natasha and Bruce and they stood frozen in fear.

"Oh my god…" Steve whispered.

Just then Thor, Tony and Clint came barreling down the stairs, "What was that?" Clint demanded.

"It's that girl, what else!" Natasha told him, "We followed the sounds of her in here and then there was the scream."

Sudden movement caught their eyes and they saw the tattered skirt the child was wearing just as she disappeared around a corner.

"After her!" Tony shouted.

They raced after her and found themselves once more in the living room but the sliding door was open, letting the wind and rain inside. "Look! Over there!" Steve shouted, pointing.

They saw the little girl as she looked at them from where she stood on the deck, she had brown curls, a tattered dress with smudges on it and pale blueish purple skin. Then she turned and climbed onto the railing of the deck and slowly turned to look at them.

In the few moments she had been outside, she was completely soaked from the rain and looked even more demonic.

"What the hell is that?" Tony breathed.

"Looks like a corpse!" Clint said.

"I warned you about watching movies like that." Steve said, "Look what you've brought into your house. A demon. You need God, Tony."

"I have one." Tony beamed at Thor, "He's right here."

Natasha moved closer to Clint, "I don't like this." She whispered.

The little girl took a step backwards and fell to the ocean below.

They stood there in shock. And then, glancing at each other, they walked outside, looking over the edge, "I don't see anything." Steve said.

"Let's get back inside." Tony suggested.

As they walked back to go inside, the door slid shut and locked itself.

"Hey!" Steve ran to the door and tried to open it, "Open the door!"

"Let's not yell at little demon girl ghosts, shall we?" Tony said in a falsely cheerful voice, "Maybe it's better this way, at least we're locked _out_ and not locked _in_. This way we can run and have a chance at survival. Besides, I'm a billionaire, she can have the house, I can build a new one, a better one even!" Looking at the rest of the team his face fell, "I lost my house to a ghost, how did it come to this?"

"You could come to church with me, Tony, they'll welcome you there and-"

A bark of laugher from Clint cut Steve off, "If he walked into a church, the whole building would go up in flames!"

Bruce snickered and Natasha tried to hide her smile but failed, a laugh escaping her.

"Friends, we must do something about this demonic child, it is not right that one so small and disturbing should take Stark's house." He raised his hand and lightening cracked across the sky, the sound of breaking glass was heard above them and everyone jumped out of the way of both falling glass as mjolnir came flying down from the second floor and into Thor's waiting grasp, "Come! Together we fight our foe and reclaim what is ours!" He clapped Tony on the back, causing him to stagger forward.

"Um, the house is _mine_." Tony said, "But yeah, let's go kill that thing!"

"We're locked out." Steve reminded them., "And how do you kill what's already dead?"

"Fear not!" Thor thrust mjolnir through the glass and reached through to unlock the door, and then slid it open, "Problem solved." He proudly surveyed his handiwork, "Everyone in. Just…watch yourself on the broken glass."

The Avengers filed in reluctantly, no one really wanted to fight a demon child on Halloween. They were supposed to be at a haunted house, a fake one, not a real one.

Tony felt a chill slide down his back as they entered the kitchen. The little girl sat on top of the kitchen counter, swinging her legs back and forth, kicking the cupboards below. She turned slowly and fixed them with a cold stare. Her eyes were dark, as though they were black.

"Alright, so, why don't you just crawl back into the hole you came out of and get the hell out of my house?" Tony had hoped he would have sounded just a little bit more forceful but he cringed inwardly as his voice shook.

The girl smiled slowly, then hoped down, "No." She whispered.

Leaning over, Clint whispered loudly, "I think you should just hand the keys over, buy yourself a new place."

Tony nodded, "I think you're right." He turned to the demon child, "Well, we tried. Okay then, I am going to need to get my things and you can just have this place." Tony turned to leave but Thor gripped his upper arm, stopping him.

"No, we will vanquish her." Thor said, then turned to face the child, "Who are you? What do you want?"

"All I want is to play, no one will play with me. I am bored. You will play with me, will you not?" She asked so politely for a demon.

Everyone exchanged looks before turning back to the girl.

"Isn't that what we've been doing?" Natasha asked, "Chasing you all over the house in the dark?"

"Oh yes, that was fun, I especially like the parts when he screamed." She pointed at Tony, "Let us play some more." She jumped off the counter and clapped her hands in front of her, "I love games."

"So did my brother." Thor said quietly as he tilted his head to the side and he looked at the girl, "But he has not played tricks in a very long time…"

"Sure, okay, let's play." Bruce said, "But no more hide and seek. What happened to your ball?"

"It's here." She said, and the ball came rolling back into the kitchen on its own from where ever it had been.

"If we play with you, will you leave?" Bruce asked, hesitating as he reached down to pick up the ball. He expected it to explode, melt away or turn to ash but it didn't do any of those things, it stayed the same as it was.

"I'll leave when I tire of you." The girl responded.

"Alright, let's play." Bruce said as he bounced the ball over to her, expecting the girl to just roll or bounce the ball back.

Instead she caught the ball on fire, laughing as she bounced it back.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tony demanded as he dodged out of the way, "Trying to burn my house down?"

Clint ran to the sink and got a glass full of water and threw it on the ball which was now melted on the tile floor.

"Enough!" Thor growled, "You had your fun, now give this up before you hurt someone."

Laughing, the girl ran past the Avengers and back into the living room where she stopped by the broken door, her feet crunching the glass under foot. As she stood there her laughter grew deeper.

When the Avengers made it into the living room, they froze, where they had expected the little girl to be, there now stood a tall figure clothed in black, still laughing.

"Turn around and show yourself." Steve ordered.

Slowly the figure turned, he was draped in shadows and red eyes shined at them, but they were gone in an instant as he blinked, replaced by unnaturally bright green eyes, a toothy grin on his face.

Thor lowered his hammer, a smile tugging on the corners of his mouth, "Loki."

"I'll kill you!" Tony shouted, stepping forward but he was held back by Thor.

"Friends, my brother loves tricks, he meant no harm by this."

"He meant no harm? Have you seen my door? It'll have to be-" Tony broke off and starred at Loki, "You were in the _bathroom_ with me!"

Loki grimaced and then laughed loudly, "Please, do not flatter yourself, I would not lower myself to that. I only entered the bathroom once you were finished."

"You had us scared out of our minds." Steve said, his anger coming through, "You shouldn't have done that. A demon child, that's just sick."

Loki's smile faltered, "I see…well, since apparently none of you appreciate my trick, I'll be going now."

"Hey, no wait! Fix Jarvis before you leave, Mr. Tricks-With-No-Treats." Tony told him.

"Well, you would have gotten treats, but you're no fun." Loki sighed and as soon as he stepped outside the lights in the house came back on.

"Jarvis! Are you alright? Talk me, buddy!" Tony demanded.

"Yes, sir, I am fine. A nap was just what I needed to feel refreshed. Thank you, Mr. Loki." Jarvis replied.

"Uh, Loki, wait, we were going to get treats? What kinds of treats?" Clint asked, earning himself a raised eyebrow from Natasha, "What? It's Halloween and we don't even have any candy."

"Oh, you want candy, Barton?" Loki asked with a gleeful look, "You'll get your candy. Oh yes, lots of candy for you." Loki turned and walked away, laughing, and then disappeared before he reached the stairs that lead up to the driveway.

"That was weird…" Bruce said.

Clint looked around, hoping to see a dish of candy on the coffee table or something, anything, "So…where's the candy?"

"Come on, you don't seriously want any candy from him, do you?" Steve asked, "He might poison it or something…"

Thor smiled and clapped Clint on the back, "Do not worry, my friend, if Loki has promised you candy, candy you will receive and I do not believe he would poison it. Unless you provoked him to, which I do not recommend doing…"

It was nearing 2:30 in the morning and everyone decided they'd had enough for one Halloween and went their own ways to their bedrooms.

As Clint opened the door to the room he was staying in there was a crinkling sound and a weight that pushed the door open, "Loki!" He shouted as a mound of assorted candy washed over him and into the hall. And not the little fun size candies or the cheap candy no one wanted. These were full size candies and they were the good ones.

Natasha stuck her head out of her door and with an amused smirk she reached down and picked up several Snickers bars. By then, the others had come out of their rooms and starred in shock before diving in and finding their favorites while Thor just took an arm full of assorted candies.

"What are we supposed to do with all of this?" Clint asked, "Hey, don't take too much..." He looked down to find himself knee high in candy bars, "Uh, on second thought, take as much as you want."

"We could pass it around at Shield…" Bruce suggested, "Or take it to a school or something."

"When I said I wanted candy I didn't mean this much…"

Natasha shook her head, "You know Clint, you should be careful what you ask for from the god of mischief."

* * *

**AN-** I hope you liked it! :) Thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed and favorited!


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